Codemasters CEO confirms F1 for Wii U, talks Wii U price

Codemasters, renowned for their racing games, are already working on a Wii U entry in the Dirt series. But their other big racer, Formula 1, will be making its way to the system, too, if Rod Cousen’s words from an interview are anything to go by. He didn’t reveal any specifics, but teased that “[they] will be doing Dirt and F1 for Wii U.”

As well, Rod had a few words of wisdom to share on how he thinks Nintendo should play the price war in order successful in the evolving landscape of the video game industry. Most interestingly, he seems to suggest that Nintendo may need to settle for a low profit on system sales (if any at all).

In terms of Wii U, the interesting aspect is timing and price and that has not been announced.

Everybody knows it is coming. I anticipate further price cuts on existing consoles prior to Christmas this year, and there’s room for further price cuts next year.

So Wii U needs to be very keenly priced – and in the same way that Sony is having to price Vita when the competition is smartphones and tablets. Pricing is critical in a very fragmented hardware space. So I am not sure they are going to be able to come out and hit a premium price point from the outset.

But Nintendo is smart. It is always innovative. It has demonstrated its breakthrough ability in the past, so let’s see if it can do it again. And the industry should cheer it on.

What’s great is that he remains confident in the company’s future, which I find rather refreshing in a time when the mass media is using Nintendo’s falling stock value to spread doomsday theories about their demise.

This is the best Wii U related news I’ve heard all week! An F1 game will be a definite purchase for me (assuming I’m able to get a Wii U). Codemasters did a great job with F1 2009 on the Wii, so I’m sure they can repeat that success on the Wii U.

Hopefully the controller will be able to be used as a steering wheel. The Wii game made great use of the steering wheel accessory and the Wii U controller is about the right size for an F1 steering wheel.

I also think that the touchscreen will come in handy with this game. All the important data can be displayed on it, such as standings, car damage, lap number, etc. During races the touchscreen could also be used to change race strategy during the race, whereas in F1 2009 the strategy had to be decided beforehand.

Not that I’ve been thinking about this game since the Wii U was announced…